It’s that time of year when all of the publications that write about music begin compiling best-of lists for the year. These lists are a great way to catch up on music that you didn’t have a chance to check out this year. They are also a great reminder to stop and reflect on the unbelievable bands we’ve gotten to see here in Savannah; and in a few cases help us look forward to some great bands coming to town in 2015.

With all of that said, here are a few bands we’ve seen cropping up on several of of this year’s lists: Sturgill Simpson, The War On Drugs, Future Islands, Wye Oak, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Shovels & Rope, Lucinda Williams, Hurray for The Riff Raff, Grimes, The Men, Speedy Ortiz, Lee Baines & The Glory Fires, Shakey Graves and Apache Relay. Congrats to them all!

Highlights: Always an eclectic list of Pop, Indie, Rap & Hip Hop, it was great to see ASTR on this list, who’ll be playing Stopover V in March, as well as Stopover alums Mac Demarco, Future Islands and War on Drugs, who nabbed the #1 slot.

Highlights: Savannah Music Festival alums Justin Townes Earle and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings are here along with Roseanne Cash who plays SMF next year. HFTRR makes another list, along with fellow Stopover IV artists Future Islands and St. Paul and the Broken Bones. Mac Demarco, Sturgill Simpson and The War on Drugs also appear, as does King Tuff who plays at Hang Fire in January.

Highlights: Fire Mountain and Lee Bains & The Gloryfires will both play Stopover V in March and have records on this list. As do Shakey Graves and Lucinda Williams who will be in town for SMF 2015. Stopover IV bands HFTRR and St. Paul and the Broken Bones check in on the Bitter Southerner’s list as well. And let’s not forget another list for Sturgill Simpson - he had a really good year!

Highlights: This song list features a couple names we’ve already mentioned: Hurray for the Riff Raff and The War on Drugs. Stopover alums Grimes and Speedy Ortiz check in too. But most exciting is Future Islands grabbing the #1 slot!

Highlights: 2015 Savannah Music Festival artists Apache Relay, Lucinda Williams, Roseanne Cash and Shovels & Rope all show up here, as does Justin Townes Earle. Ex Hex, who played Stopover III and will return to Savannah in January, makes this song list as well. Future Islands and War on Drugs are in the top 15, while Sturgill Simpson and HFTRR taking the #2 and #1 slots, respectively.